WHITTIER – Local educators say a proposed settlement of a lawsuit that challenged the California High School Exit Exam as a graduation requirement last year won’t have much effect because area campuses already comply with most of its provisions.

The settlement, which still needs legislative approval, requires school districts statewide to provide an additional two years of academic support to high school seniors who fail to pass the exam by graduation.

But Sandra Thorstenson, superintendent of the Whittier Union High School District, said the district already offers several options for those who aren’t able to pass the 10th-grade-level exit exam.

“We require those few who don’t pass the CAHSEE to prepare for the exam and fulfill the requirement by either attending summer tutorials, returning to high school for a fifth year, attending Sierra Vista (independent study program) or our adult school,” she said.

Earlier this year, district officials reported 0.6 percent – or 17 students – of the district’s Class of 2007 failed the exam. Statewide, the pass rate was about 90 percent.

The CAHSEE lawsuit came about last year, filed by a group of Bay Area students who demanded the state eliminate it as a graduation requirement. The suit said the state failed to provide students with an adequate education to pass the test.

A lower court sided with the students, but the California Supreme Court overturned that decision and directed the parties to reach a settlement.

The settlement announced last week calls for the state to pass a pending bill that requires schools to provide students who fail the exam with at least two years of additional support.

“We believe the settlement formalizes a practice that Superintendent O’Connell has encouraged districts to follow,” said Hilary McLean, spokeswoman for the state superintendent of public

instruction.

The law creating the exam, authored by O’Connell while he was a state senator, passed in 1999, but the first students to face the consequences of failing the exam were in the Class of 2006.

Carlye Olsen, Whittier Union’s director of accountability, staff development and educational technology, said moststudents who failed to pass the CAHSEE this year were English-language learners.

For them, Olsen said, the best option is to do a fifth year.

But they can also do independent study or attend pull-out classes if they have to hold down jobs at the same time, Olsen said. The students are also given information about six colleges that allow students to earn a diploma without passing the CAHSEE.

“We’ve always taken care of these kids,” Olsen added. “We’re responsible for helping them get their high school diplomas, even if it is past the 12th grade.”

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